<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<HEAD>
     <TITLE>A Href</TITLE>
     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../ss/2.css" id="thecss">
     <script type="text/javascript" src="../../../scripts/csschange.js"></script>
</HEAD>

<BODY onload="readSS()">

<br>
<center>
<table border=3 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
     <td><h1 class="pagetitle">Hyperlink<br>[A Href]</h1>
         <b><a href="../../../misc/suppkey.htm">Support Key:</a></b>
         [<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
         [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
         [<b class="s">IE1</b>|<b><i class="fs">M1</i></b>|<b class="s">N1</b>|<b class="s">O2.1</b>]</td>
     <td><a href="#what">What is it?</a><br>
         <a href="#attrib">Attributes</a><br>
         <a href="#example">Tag Example</a>
     </td>
     <td><a href="#model">Parent/Content Model</a><br>
         <a href="#tips">Tips &amp; Tricks</a><br>
         <a href="#peculiar">Browser Peculiarities</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td align=center colspan=3>
<font size=2>= <span class="sitetitle">Index DOT Html</span> by <a href="../../../misc/email.htm">Brian Wilson</a> =</font>
</td></tr>
</table>

<font size=2>
     <a href="../../index.html">Main Index</a> |
     <a href="../../tree/htmltree.htm">Element Tree</a> |
     <a href="../../tagindex/a.htm">Element Index</a> |
     <a href="../../supportkey/a.htm">HTML Support History</a></font>
</center>
<hr align="center" width="25%">

<br><br>
<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5>
<tr><td>
<table border=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr>
    <th colspan=3 valign=bottom class="field"><big><u><b
        class="colheaders">&#160;&#160;&#160;Quick Statistics&#160;&#160;&#160;</b></u></big><br></th>
</tr>
<tr><th align=left><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#et">End Tag:</a></b><br></th>
    <td rowspan=7>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
    <td><span class="magicword">Required</span></td></tr>
<tr><th align=left valign=top><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b><br></th>
    <td>In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#xhtm">XHTML Modules:</a></b><br></th>
    <td><b class=alert>Hypertext</b></td></tr>
<tr><th align=left valign=top><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#disp">CSS 'display' Type:</a></b><br></th>
    <td>"<b class="alert">inline</b>"</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left valign=top><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#css">CSS Mapping:</a></b><br></th>
    <td><a href="../../../css/syntax/pseudo/pclasslink.htm">a:link</a>,
        <a href="../../../css/syntax/pseudo/pclassvisited.htm">a:visited</a>,
        <a href="../../../css/syntax/pseudo/pclassactive.htm">a:active</a></td></tr>
<tr><th align=left><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#rnd">Default Rendering:</a></b><br></th>
    <td>Underlined content - usually blue for unvisited content, purple for visited.</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#offdoc">Official Docs:</a></b></th>
    <td><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.2">HTML 4.x</a>, 
        <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-modularization/abstract_modules.html#s_hypertextmodule">XHTML 1.1</a></td></tr>
</table>
</td></tr>
</table>

<a name="what"></a>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">What is it?</b></big>
    <dd>The A element is one of the key distinctive features of HTML. It
        defines a link between resources that allows webs of information to be
        created. The Hyperlink element indicates a portion of text and/or an
        object that serves as a hot area for the user to activate to jump to another
        location. The A element can serve as a destination of a URL, an invocation
        of a URL, or both at the same time.
        <br><br>

        To invoke a Bookmark either in a current document or in a remote
        document, the Bookmark NAME must be prefaced by a hash mark symbol
        (&quot;&#35;&quot;) [See examples below.] If no Bookmark is specified in the
        HREF statement, the browser will default to the top of the document.
</dl>

<a name="attrib"></a>
<dl>
<dt><br><big><b class="mainheading">Common Attributes</b></big>
<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/core.htm">Core</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<b><i class="fs">3</i></b>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
        [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
        [<b><i class="fs">IE3</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b class="s">N4B3</b>|<b class="s">O3.5</b>]

<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/accessibility.htm">Accessibility</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
        [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
        [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b class="s">N6</b>|<b class="s">O3</b>]

<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/events.htm">Events</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
        [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
        [<b class="s">IE3</b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N2</i></b>|<b class="s">O3</b>]

<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/language.htm">Language</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<b><i class="fs">3</i></b>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
        [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
        [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]

<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/data.htm">Data</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>]
        [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
        [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]

<dt><b class="subheading">%<a href="../attributes/editing.htm">Editing</a>%</b>
    <dd>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>]
        [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
        [<b><i class="fs">IE5.5</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]

<dt><br><big><b class="mainheading">Specific Attributes</b></big>
<dt><b class="subheading">Accesskey</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b class="s">N6B2</b>|<b class="s">O7</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML element using
        a keyboard character. This is a common GUI paradigm also known
        as a &quot;keyboard shortcut&quot; or &quot;keyboard accelerator&quot;
        A single character is used as the value of this attribute. In addition,
        a platform-dependent key is usually used in combination with the
        ACCESSKEY character to access the functionality of the active field.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [A single, case-insensitive character from a browser's character set.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Charset</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
        [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
        [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<b><i class="fs">O7</i></b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute indicates the character encoding of the destination
        resource of the hyperlink.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [A recognized RFC 2045 language character set string. Default is ISO-8859-1.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Coords</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N6</i></b>|<b class="s">O7</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This specifies the coordinate values in pixels appropriate to the
        accompanying SHAPE attribute to define a region of an image for
        hyperlinking. The coordinate system for Client Side Image Maps
        originates at the top, left corner of the image and values grow
        larger as you move down and to the right.
        <br>
        These are the corresponding SHAPE types and COORDS definition schemes:<br>
        &#160;&#160;&#160;<b class="magicword">RECT, RECTANGLE:</b>
        COORDS=&quot;<b class="alert">left,top,right,bottom</b>&quot;<br>
        &#160;&#160;&#160;<b class="magicword">CIRC, CIRCLE:</b>
        &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;
        COORDS=&quot;<b class="alert">center_x,center_y,radius</b>&quot;<br>
        &#160;&#160;&#160;<b class="magicword">POLY, POLYGON:</b>
        &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;
        COORDS=&quot;<b class="alert">x1,y1,x2,y2,...,xn,yn</b>&quot;<br>
        [The Polygon values specify the successive coordinates of the polygon
        and have no explicit limit on number of vertices, but HTML limits
        attribute values to 1024 characters. If the first and last coordinates
        of a Polygon reference are not the same, then a final segment is implied
        to close it.]
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [Positive integers given as a comma separated list of X-Y values.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Disabled</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>] 
    [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE5</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<b class="s">O7</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b> NA
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This is a stand-alone attribute which indicates the element is
        initially non-functional. 
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> NA (HTML); <b class="alert">disabled</b> (XHTML)

<dt><b class="subheading">Href</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b class="s">IE1</b>|<b><i class="fs">M1</i></b>|<b class="s">N1</b>|<b class="s">O2.1</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute indicates the URL to be loaded when the hyperlinked
        object is activated. Either this attribute or the NAME attribute
        <em>MUST</em> be present in the A tag.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [Either an absolute or relative URL. All URLs should be <a
        href="../../topics/urlencoding.htm">URL encoded</a> where required.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Hreflang</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N6.1</i></b>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute specifies the base language of the resource indicated
        in the HREF attribute.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> Any <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1766.txt">RFC 1766</a> value.
        [Must begin with a letter ([A-Za-z]), followed by any number of characters in [A-Za-z0-9-_:.] 


<dt><b class="subheading">Methods</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>] 
    [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b> NA
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute should specify methods to be used in accessing the
        destination, as a whitespace-separated list of names. For similar
        reasons as for the TITLE attribute, it may be useful to include the
        information in advance in the link. For example, the browser may
        choose a different rendering display (possibly a special icon) for a
        destination that is searchable. None of the popular browsers ever
        implemented this attribute and it has since disappeared from the
        HTML 3.2 recommendation.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b>
        The set of applicable names is a function of the protocol scheme of
        the URL in the HREF attribute.

<dt><b class="subheading">Name</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<b class="s">IE1</b>|<b><i class="fs">M1</i></b>|<b class="s">N1</b>|<b class="s">O2.1</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0 DTDs. Dropped in XHTML 1.1 in favor of ID attribute.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute assigns a symbolic name to the enclosed object
        (text, image, etc.) in order to use it as a destination in a hyperlink or
        other URL call. Either this attribute or the HREF attribute
        <em>MUST</em> be present in the A element. (Note: HTML 4 states that if 
        ID and NAME are both used in a given A element, they should have the exact same
        value since they share the same domain value space.)
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>

<dt><b class="subheading">Rel</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE3</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N6.1</i></b>|<b class="s">O6</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        The REL attribute is meant to give the relationship(s) described by the hyperlink.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [A whitespace separated list of relationship names.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Rev</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<b><i class="fs">M3</i></b>|<b><i class="fs">N6.1</i></b>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        The REV attribute is meant to be the same as the REL attribute, but the
        semantics of the relationship are in the reverse direction. A link from
        A to B with REL=&quot;X&quot; expresses the same relationship as a
        link from B to A with REV=&quot;X&quot;. An anchor may have both REL
        and REV attributes.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [A whitespace separated list of relationship names.]

<dt><b class="subheading">SDAPref</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>] 
    [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b> NA
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This is an <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#sda">SGML Document Access
        (SDA)</a> attribute. SDA attributes are designed to transform HTML (and
        other SGML-based documents) to the <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#icadd">ICADD</a>
        DTD - which is used in creating accessible documents for users with
        visual disabilities (rendering in Braille, large print, speech
        synthesis, etc.) The attribute value specifies content to be added
        <em>BEFORE</em> the original element content (in this case the string
        "&lt;Anchor: #AttList &gt;") when the SDA document is rendered (SDA also allows
        attributes and values from the original element to be used in the new
        SDA element where necessary.) #Attlist lists out all of the
        attribute="value" pairs from the original code.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Value:</b> 
        "<b class="alert">&lt;Anchor: <code class="alert2">#AttList</code> &gt;</b>"

<dt><b class="subheading">Shape</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N6</i></b>|<b class="s">O7</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        The SHAPE attribute defines the type of region to be defined for mapping
        in the current AREA tag. The value specified here decides the number of
        coordinates to list in the COORDS attribute. If the SHAPE attribute is
        absent the shape is assumed to be of type <b class="alert">RECT</b>
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b>  <b class="alert">RECT</b> 
        [<b class="magicword">DEFAULT</b>] | <b class="alert">RECTANGLE</b> |
        <b class="alert">CIRC</b> | <b class="alert">CIRCLE</b> |
        <b class="alert">POLY</b> | <b class="alert">POLYGON</b>

<dt><b class="subheading">Suppress</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>]
    [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i><u class="sr">N4-4.x</u></i></b>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b> NA
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute specifies that the dotted focus rectangle for this
        element should be suppressed when the hyperlink has keyboard focus.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b>
        <b class="alert">FALSE</b> [<b class="magicword">DEFAULT</b>] |
        <b class="alert">TRUE</b>

<dt><b class="subheading">Tabindex</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b class="s">N6</b>|<b class="s">O7</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        &quot;Tabbing&quot; is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML
        element using a standard keyboard sequence. All the active elements in a
        document can be cycled through using this sequence (ex: Windows TAB key.)
        The order of the active elements in this cycle is usually the order they
        occur in the document, but the TABINDEX attribute allows a different order
        to be established. The use of this attribute should create the following
        tabbing order cycle if the browser supports the attribute:
        <ol>
        <li>Active elements using the TABINDEX attribute with positive integers are
            navigated first. Low values are navigated first.
        <li>Active elements not specifying any TABINDEX attribute
        </ol>
        Those elements carrying a DISABLED attribute or using negative TABINDEX
        values do not participate in the tabbing cycle.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> Positive or negative integers.

<dt><b class="subheading">Target</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<b class="s">IE3A1</b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N2</i></b>|<b class="s">O2.1</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        Transitional/Frameset HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0 DTDs only. Dropped in XHTML 1.1.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute specifies the named frame for the HREF hyperlink to
        jump to when activated.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [The TARGET <a href="../target.htm">reserved names</a> apply.]

<dt><b class="subheading">Title</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<b class="s">3.2</b>|<b class="s">4</b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4B1</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b class="s">N6B2</b>|<b class="s">O3</b>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute suggests a title (advisory only) for the destination
        resource. The TITLE attribute may be used for display prior to
        accessing the destination resource (such as in a margin note or in a
        pop-up box while the mouse is over the hyperlink), or for resources
        that do not include titles (like graphics, plain text documents or
        Gopher menus.)
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>

<dt><b class="subheading">Type</b>
<dt>[<span class="ns">2</span>|<span class="ns">3</span>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<b><i class="fs">4</i></b>] 
    [<b class="s">X1</b>|<b class="s">X1.1</b>]
    [<span class="ns">IE</span>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<b><i class="fs">N6.1</i></b>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b>
        In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute specifies the MIME type of the resource indicated
        in the HREF attribute.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> <a href="../../../misc/glossary.htm#cdata">CDATA</a>.
        [Alphanumeric MIME type]

<dt><b class="subheading">URN</b>
<dt>[<b><i class="fs">2</i></b>|<b class="s">3</b>|<span class="ns">3.2</span>|<span class="ns">4</span>] 
    [<span class="ns">X1</span>|<span class="ns">X1.1</span>]
    [<b><i class="fs">IE4</i></b>|<span class="ns">M</span>|<span class="ns">N</span>|<span class="ns">O</span>]
    <dd><b class="l3heading"><a href="../stats.htm#std">Standards Details:</a></b> NA
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Required?</b> No
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Description:</b><br>
        This attribute was originally meant to specify a more persistent
        identifier for the NAME value of the hyperlink, but none of the popular
        browsers ever implemented this attribute. It has since disappeared from
        the HTML 3.2 recommendation.
    <dd><b class="l3heading">Values:</b> NA
</dl>


<a name="example"></a>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Example</b></big>
<dt><b class="subheading">Hyperlink to a document:</b>
    <dd><div class="example">&lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">href</span>=&quot;http://www.foo.com/index.html&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">target</span>=&quot;frame1&quot;&gt;<br>
        Link text that leads to index.html at www.foo.com<br>
        &lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;</div>
<dt><b class="subheading">Hyperlink to a Bookmark in the current document:</b>
    <dd><div class="example">&lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">href</span>=&quot;&#35;Bookmark1&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">target</span>=&quot;frame1&quot;&gt;<br>
        Link text that leads to Bookmark1 in the current document<br>
        &lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;</div>
<dt><b class="subheading">Hyperlink to a Bookmark in an external document:</b>
    <dd><div class="example">&lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">href</span>=&quot;http://www.foo.com/index.html&#35;Bookmark1&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">target</span>=&quot;frame1&quot;&gt;<br>
        Link text that leads to Bookmark1 in index.html at www.foo.com<br>
        &lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;</div>

<dt><b class="subheading">Image map/Shaped hyperlink list in an OBJECT element:</b>
    <dd><div class="example">&lt;<b class="tagname">object</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">type</span>=&quot;image/gif&quot; <span 
        class="tagattrib">data</span>=&quot;http://www.foo.com/bigimage.gif&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">height</span>="50" <span class="tagattrib">width</span>="100"&gt;<br>
        &lt;<b class="tagname">b</b>&gt;Menu:&lt;/<b class="tagname">b</b>&gt;&lt;<b class="tagname">br</b> /&gt;<br>
        &lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">href</span>=&quot;http://www.foo.com/link1.html&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">shape</span>=&quot;RECT&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">coords</span>=&quot;0, 0, 50, 50&quot;&gt;Link 
        text 1&lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;&lt;<b class="tagname">br</b> /&gt;<br>

        &lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>&#160;&#160;<span 
        class="tagattrib">href</span>=&quot;http://www.foo.com/link2.html&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">shape</span>=&quot;RECT&quot;
        <span class="tagattrib">coords</span>=&quot;50, 0, 100, 50&quot;&gt;Link 
        text 2&lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;&lt;<b class="tagname">br</b> /&gt;<br>
        &lt;/<b class="tagname">object</b>&gt;</div>
</dl>


<a name="model"></a>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Parent Model</b></big>
    <dd><b class="alert">%<a href="../shorthands.htm#inlineparent">In-line Parent</a>%</b> |
        <b class="alert">%<a href="../shorthands.htm#blockparent">Block Parent</a>%</b><br>
        <b class="alert">Exceptions:</b> &lt;a&gt;
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Content Model</b></big>
    <dd><b class="alert">%<a href="../shorthands.htm#inlinecontent">In-line Content</a>%</b><br>
        <b class="alert">Exceptions:</b> &lt;a&gt;
</dl>


<a name="tips"></a>
<big><b class="mainheading">Tips &amp; Tricks</b></big>
<ul>
    <li>Remember when creating an ISMap that the IMG element must have the ISMAP 
        attribute and be inside a hyperlink to the external map file.
    <li>Although these pages lists A HREF and A NAME separately in order to
        emphasize the distinction in functionality between these two aspects of
        the A element, the HREF and NAME attributes can co-exist in the same tag to
        serve as both a jump point and a destination for a jump point.
    <li>If you are using frames, be sure all hyperlinks in your sub-documents
        have targets which indicate the desired destination frames.
    <li>A commonly agreed-upon style issue is to make sure your hyperlink
        text is descriptive. It is considered good practice to integrate
        hyperlinks as seamlessly as possible into runs of text instead of
        using something like the very obvious qualifier: &quot;Click Here&quot;
    <li>The TITLE attribute is listed on this page both under the "Common
        Attributes" and "Specific Attributes" categories - I generally consider
        TITLE to be a "Common Attribute", but in the special case of the A
        and LINK elements, this attribute was included in the HTML standards
        at least as far back as HTML 2.0 - long before these attributes were
        specified for any other element.
    <li><b class="alert">DTD Note:</b> A reader pointed out to me that it is
        also legal to use an A element without a NAME <em>or</em> HREF attribute (eg:
        &lt;<b class="tagname">a</b> <span class="tagattrib">TITLE</span>="hello"&gt;content&lt;/<b
        class="tagname">a</b>&gt;) but I don't have any idea why an author
        might wish to do this.
    <li><b class="alert">NOTE:</b> An additional method of invoking JavaScript
        exists using the A HREF element combined with Script code in place of
        the destination URL. The script code (either inline or externally
        referenced) is executed when the user clicks on the hyperlink.
        <dl>
        <dt><b class="l3heading">Syntax:</b> [script-engine]:[script-code]
            <dd>Where [script-engine] is the name of the scripting language used,
                and [script-code] is either in-line script code or script code referenced
                elsewhere in the document.
        <dt><b class="l3heading">Example:</b> (displays an alert message box that
            contains the text 'hi there')
            <dd>&lt;<b class="tagname">a</b>
                <span class="tagattrib">HREF</span>=&quot;JavaScript:alert('hi
                there')&quot;&gt;Click me to see a message.&lt;/<b class="tagname">a</b>&gt;
        </dl>
    <li><em>"How do you override the underlining of hyperlinks?"</em> - Here is
        a document that <a href="http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/topics/stylefaq.htm#fifteen">addresses
        this common question.</a>
    <li><b class="alert">URL Encoding:</b><br>
        URLs only allow a subset of allowable
        <a href="../text.htm">ISO-8859-1 (ISO-Latin)</a>
        characters to be used. Any other characters must be encoded using
        a special escape syntax that uses combinations of the allowable
        subset. A separate page in the Topics section covers
        <a href="../../topics/urlencoding.htm">URL encoding</a> in much greater
        detail, and even provides a little utility to automatically create
        URL encodings of characters.
    <li><b class="alert">Trivia?:</b> One reader asked me what other hyperlink
        prefixes existed besides "mailto:" and "javascript:" - The following is not 
        a definitive answer, but I did find one list of prefixes allowed in
        Netscape 4.x/6.x by browsing the Mozilla source code: "about:",
        "javascript:", "livescript:", "mailbox:", "mailto:", "mocha:", "news:",
        "pop3:", "snews:", "telnet:", "view-source:" and "wysiwyg:". It looks like IE
        supports "telnet:" and "view-source:" as well, but I don't know what ELSE it supports,
        or whether this information is or even "should be" useful to anyone. 8-}
    <li><b class="alert">Further on the previous point:</b> One reader sent in a 
        <a href="http://www.w3.org/Addressing/schemes.html">W3.org link</a> on 
        URI addressing schemes that attempts to be a definitive list (whether some of 
        them work in any of the major browsers or not is left as an exercise for the 
        reader to verify ;-})
    <li><b class="alert">More about shaped hyperlinks:</b> If you're like me, shaped 
        hyperlinks (those extra SHAPE and COORDS attributes) didn't make a lot of 
        sense - the HTML spec doesn't go out of its way to explain why an author 
        might choose to use these attributes.
        <br><br>
        At first blush, one might think that a shaped hyperlink could be used to 
        define a single clickable sub-area within a hyperlinked object (such as an image;)
        You could perhaps also use A elements inside a MAP element instead of using
        AREA elements. A third scenario is using shaped hyperlinks within an 
        OBJECT element to define a clickable map; it is this last which provides
        the interesting use-case in supporting browsers. This case acts like a 
        MAP/USEMAP scenario for an image, and the regular hyperlinks themselves 
        are not displayed (because they are nested in the OBJECT element.) In 
        this case though, the shape map is for an OBJECT region and it degrades 
        better to non-supporting browsers better than USEMAP-imagemaps can. For 
        browsers that can not support rendering the OBJECT as specified, you are 
        left with a simple and very usable list of hyperlinks. See the example above.
</ul>

<a name="peculiar"></a>
<big><b class="mainheading">Browser Peculiarities</b></big>
<ul>
    <li><a href="../../../testing/html/tags/a/aname-bp1.htm">[Test]</a>
        When jumping to a bookmark/fragment URL in the last viewable screen/page of
        a page that is longer than one screen, Internet Explorer versions up to
        and including 3.0 scroll such that the bookmark is at the top of the page,
        leaving blank space at the end of the document. This displays the document
        in a position that is not possible to achieve using scrollbar controls.
        Internet Explorer 4.0 and all Netscape versions display the document as low
        as it can normally be scrolled and no more.
    <li><a href="../../../testing/html/tags/a/ahref-bp3.htm">[Test]</a>
        Netscape 4.x has a bug: A location in a document can be defined using the
        ID attribute as well as the A NAME element. In Netscape 4.x this can be
        accessed using hyperlinks from external documents, but if the hyperlink
        is within the same document, the link does nothing.
    <li>Internet Explorer 4+ and Netscape 6+ implements TITLE as a hovering tooltip
        while Opera 3.x+ implements it as both a tooltip and a caption in the browser
        toolbar area.
    <li><a href="../../../testing/html/tags/a/ahref-bp2.htm">[Test]</a>
        IE4+ uses the TITLE attribute as the Favorites label for a URL when placed
        via the right-mouseclick context menu.
    <li><a href="../../../testing/html/tags/a/ahref-bp1.htm">[Test]</a>
        A brief history of FONT COLOR and A HREF interaction behavior:
        <dl>
         <dt><b class="alert">Netscape 2,3:</b>
             <dd>Coloring Hyperlinks only works if the FONT COLOR is applied INSIDE
                 the hyperlink, and ONLY if both are INSIDE a table cell.
        <dt><b class="alert">Internet Explorer 1, 2, 3, Netscape 4.0 Beta 1-3, Opera:</b>
            <dd>Coloring hyperlinks does not work at all.
        <dt><b class="alert">Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape 4.0 Beta 4+:</b>
            <dd>Coloring hyperlinks works anywhere (not just inside tables) if the
                FONT COLOR is applied INSIDE the hyperlink.
        </dl>
    <li><a href="../../../testing/html/tags/l/layer-bp2.htm">[Test]</a>
        Netscape 4.x can not correctly hyperlink to a bookmark (A NAME) that is
        nested inside a LAYER element from another document. It succeeds in
        jumping to the document, and it <em>does</em> attempt to jump within the
        document, but I didn't see a particular pattern to where it was jumping
        to...but it isn't the correct location. Hyperlinking to a bookmark
        nested in a LAYER from within the same document appears to work correctly.
    <li>I list the METHODS, REL, REV and URN attributes as being supported in IE
        based only upon Microsoft's documentation. While this data might be
        reachable via the DOM, these attributes certainly do not have any default
        presentational results.
    <li>The HREFLANG/REL/REV/TYPE attributes are exposed in Netscape 6.1+ by 
        invoking a context menu on the hyperlink (PC: right clicking) and 
        choosing "properties."
</ul>

<br>
<a href="../../../misc/copyright.htm">Boring Copyright Stuff...</a>

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</HTML>
